h2 Vialogix helps National Gypsum create Spanish Web Site

CHARLOTTE, NC – February 1, 2006 – In an effort to make its resources available to all its users, National Gypsum, a leading manufacturer of gypsum wallboard and related products, announced today the launch of the Spanish version of its award winning website. Hispanic construction professionals are now able to find all the information about the company’s products and resources, including Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), submittals, guide specifications and product literature. The website can be accessed at www.nationalgypsum.com/espanol or by clicking the link Espanol on the website www.nationalgypsum.com.

National Gypsum is the first company in the gypsum industry to offer its users all of its online resources in Spanish. In 1995, National Gypsum was also the first gypsum company to debut a website that introduced its products and resources on the Internet. The company enlisted the help of Enventys Latino Market Solutions, a fully integrated product and business development firm, and Vialogix, developers and designers of National Gypsum’s award-winning website. “Vialogix helped us extend our original site architecture, which our customers have told us they like using due to its ease of use, to our new Spanish language site. Enventys’ expertise was invaluable in specifically tailoring the content of this site to this important, fast growing customer segment,” said David Drummond, Director of Marketing at National Gypsum.

The Hispanic portion of the U.S. labor force has increased rapidly over the last decade, particularly in construction, which has a larger share of Hispanic workers than any industry, except agriculture. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, 24.2% of construction workers are Hispanic. The number of Hispanic construction workers quadrupled in the last two decades.

“The Hispanic labor force is a very important part of our industry. By providing our website in Spanish we want to be the destination of choice for the Hispanic construction worker looking for product information and want them to see National Gypsum as a partner throughout their career,” added Drummond.

“National Gypsum just made a major step in reaching out to the Hispanic construction professional,” said Alfredo Garza, Director of Hispanic Marketing at Enventys. Some estimates already put the number of U.S. Hispanics online at 12.4 million and growing 15% to 20% annually, four times faster than in the general population. “I really believe that they will be rewarded with the loyalty of Hispanic customers for taking the lead with this important initiative.”

“National Gypsum has made a conscious effort to listen to customer feedback and deliver a consistent user experience across all its web properties. The Spanish language site caters to an important audience and continues the National Gypsum trend of giving customers the information they need to make intelligent purchasing decisions,” said Rob Norris, President of Vialogix.